BLS INTERNATIONAL LTD (NSE: BLS) Q2 2025 Earnings Call dated Nov. 12, 2024
Corporate Participants:
Shikhar Aggarwal — Joint Managing Director
Amit Sudhakar — Chief Financial Officer
Nikhil Gupta — Managing Director
Analysts:
Nikhil Shetty — Analyst
Dinesh Kulkarni — Analyst
Nihal Shah — Analyst
Vishal Singh — Analyst
Shrija Pathak — Analyst
Hena Vora — Analyst
Pratik Bharne — Analyst
Yash Gandhi — Analyst
Anuj Jain — Analyst
Ravi Kumar Naredi — Analyst
Ankush Agarwal — Analyst
Ishika Bajaj — Analyst
Rucheeta Kadge — Analyst
Chandan Mishra — Analyst
Balu Lamkhade — Analyst
Amit Jeswani — Analyst
Presentation:
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the BLS International Limited Q2 and H1 FY ’25 Earnings Conference Call hosted by Nuvama Wealth. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded.
I now hand the conference over to Mr. Nikhil Shetty from Nuvama Wealth. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Nikhil Shetty — Analyst
Thank you, Del. Good day, everyone. On behalf of Nuvama Wealth I thank you for joining the Q2 and H1 FY ’25 earnings call of BLS International Services Limited. To discuss the operational and financial performance of the company, we have with us on the call today, Mr. Nikhil Gupta, Managing Director; Mr. Shikhar Aggarwal, our Joint Managing Director; Mr. Amit Sudhakar, our Chief Financial Officer; Mr. Lokanath Panda, COO of our Digital business; and Gaurav Chugh, Head of Investor Relations.
I now hand the conference over to the Gaurav. Thank you, and over to you, Gaurav.
Shikhar Aggarwal — Joint Managing Director
Thank you, Nikhil. Good afternoon, everyone. The company’s presentation and press release has already been uploaded on the stock exchanges as well as on the company’s website and we hope that you had an opportunity to go through the same.
Let me remind you that this discussion may contain forward-looking statements that may involve known or unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. It may be viewed in conjunction with our businesses that could cause future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from what is expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
I would like to hand over the call to Mr Shikhar Aggarwal for his opening remarks, post which Mr. Amit Sudhaka will discuss the financial performance of the company and then we will open the floor for an interactive Q&A session. Thank you, and over to you, Shikhar. Thank you, everyone, for joining us on International’s Q2 and H1 FY ’25 earnings call today. I’m extremely delighted to announce that we have concluded the second quarter and first half of fiscal year 2025 with highest ever financial performance. Our second-quarter consolidated revenue has seen a strong increase of 21% to INR495 crores compared to same period last year. We witnessed highest ever EBITDA reported by the company at INR164 crore, which grew remarkably by 89% and our profit after tax was INR146 crores, surging 78% year-on-year. The result in our first half is to be the — is the best period till date with consolidated revenues climbing 25% to INR988 crores. EBITDA also grew by 78% to INR297 crores and profit after tax increasing 74% year-on-year to INR267 crore. These results lay a solid foundation for our growth trajectory throughout the remainder of our fiscal. Our remarkable growth is primarily attributed to the surge in visa applications, a direct result of our strategic expansion in key markets and our targeted approach to securing lucrative contracts alongside bolstering our existing months over the last 18 to 24 months. Further, we’ve extended our operation by opening up new visa application centers in Colombia and Peru during the quarter. During quarter Q2 FY ’25, the number of visa application process has increased from 7.2 lakh applications in Q2 FY ’24 to 10.1 lakh in Q2 FY ’25, which have grown by a robust 41% year-on-year. This includes the application processed by iDATA during the quarter. This uptick aligns with our broader growth in the global travel and industry, which has provided an encouraging backdrop for our expansion. With the completion of acquisition of iDATA in July 2024, we began including iDATA’s financials in our consolidated reports from the second quarter onwards. iDATA has contributed significantly to our financial strength, reporting revenues of INR60 crores EBITDA — and EBITDA of INR23 crores. The — and also represents around 1.6 lakh applications during the quarter. Similarly from the acquisitions of iDATA and ongoing transition in our business model from partner-run centers to self-run models has resulted in enhanced margin profile for the company during the period. Our EBITDA margins expanded to 33.1% in Q2 FY ’25, an expansion of 1,186 basis points from 21.3% in the corresponding quarter. Furthermore, our net revenue per application has also increased from INR1,988 in quarter two FY ’24 to INR2,883 in Q2 FY ’25. Additionally, in October ’24, we have also completed the acquisition of Citizenship Invest, a global leader in residency and citizenship programs with presence across more than 15 countries, enhancing BLS capabilities and offering long-term user solutions. Capitalizing on BLS expansive reach across 70 plus countries combined with Citizen Invest robust reputation and influence among H&I individuals is anticipated to significantly enhance overall processing volumes. I am delighted to report that our Digital Service segment has expanded its presence to more than 121,000 touch points, underscoring our commitment to fostering financial inclusion and empowering retail access. In terms of BC operations, we have seen a remarkable volume of over 3.6 crore transactions with the gross value surprising INR20,000 crore during the quarter. Additionally, we have expanded our network by adding more than 2,700 channel service partners, bringing our total to over 29,700 BC as of September 30th. The partners also have generated loan leads of approximately INR1,400 crores for financial institutions as compared to INR1,000 crores in the last quarter. The expansion reflects our ongoing efforts to deepen our market penetration. Our subsidiary BLS E-Services has also signed a definitive agreement to acquire 57% controlling stake in Aadifidelis Solutions and its affiliates. It is among the leading — leaders in load distribution processing player in India, bolstering a comprehensive pan-India presence. ASPL’s network of 8,600 plus partners have presence in 17 states and tie-ups with leading financial institutions is an added advantage. The integration of ASPL will complement our existing suit of DC-driven citizen-focused banking services and unlock numerous cross-selling opportunities, further enhancing our service operations and market reach. We hope to close this transaction quite soon. As we look to the future, our strategy is dual faceted. We aim to cultivate organic growth within our visa and counselor services and digital service business, while also actively seeking out opportunities for inorganic expansion both domestically and internationally. Our outlook for the current fiscal remains positive and we are dedicated to driving sustainable growth. In closing, I wish to reiterate our strong confidence in the coming quarters. The BLS team is committed to advancing growth across both of our key business segments. We are convinced that strategic initiatives we have implemented will lay the outlook for a prosperous future in the coming years. Now I will turn over the call to Mr. Amit Sudhakar, our CFO, for further updates on the financial performance. Thank you.
Amit Sudhakar — Chief Financial Officer
Thank you, Shikhar. Good afternoon, everyone. I’m pleased to present the consolidated financial performance for the second-quarter and half year ended September 30, 2024. In the Q2 FY ’25, we achieved a revenue of INR495 crores, marking a robust year-over-year increase of 21% from INR408 crores reported in Q2 FY ’24. This growth was attributed largely by strong performance of Visa & Counselor Service business. We are witnessing a sustained momentum and remain confident of our prospects for continued expansion in the subsequent quarters.
Our EBITDA for the quarter surged to INR164 crores, up from INR87 crores in same period last year, registered a strong growth of 89%. The EBITDA margin for the quarter was 33.1%, expanding by 1,186 basis points year-over-year. This margin expansion was contributed to our cost optimization efforts and transition in self run model and iDATA acquisition.
Profit before tax for the quarter was reported at INR164 crores, a significant 88% increase from INR87 crores in second quarter of the previous financial year. The profit after tax also showed a strong performance at INR146 crores compared to INR82 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, reflecting a growth of 78%. Taxes in Dubai impacted the PAT growth. Earnings per share for the quarter stood at INR3.40 per share as compared to INR1.90 pesa per share in Q2 FY ’24.
Coming to the half year performance, the half year revenue stood at INR988 crores or as compared to INR791 crore, registering a growth of 25% over the corresponding previous period. The EBITDA for the H1 FY ’25 stood at INR297 crores versus INR167 crores in the corresponding half year of last year, a robust growth of 78%. The EBITDA margin for the H1 FY ’25 stood at 30.1% against 21.1% in H1 FY ’24, an expansion of 901 basis point. Profit after tax stood at INR267 crores as compared to INR153 crore in the previous corresponding half year, a growth of 74%.
Now coming to segmental highlights. In Q2 FY ’25, our Visa Consular segment saw a strong growth of 30%, generating a revenue of INR418 crores, an increase from INR322 crores in Q2 FY ’24. The EBITDA for this segment expanded by 107% to INR152 crores with a EBITDA margin of 36.4%.
This represents an increase of 1,360 basis points over 22.8% margin recorded in Q2 FY ’24. The quarter also saw a 41% rise in the number of visa applications processed, climbing from 7.2 lakhs application in Q2 FY ’24 to 10.1 lakhs applications in Q2 FY ’25, which includes 1,60,000 applicant accounts from iDATA.
Looking at the first half of the year, Visa & Consular service revenue grew at 33% to INR832 crores in H1 FY ’25, up from INR627 crores in H1 FY ’24. EBITDA for the same period experienced a significant year-on-year increase of 89%, reaching to INR273 crores with EBITDA margin of 32.9%. This margin of 982 basis points compared to 23% margin in H1 FY ’24, reflecting an ongoing commitment to growth and efficiency.
In Q2 FY ’25, our digital business segment reported a revenue of INR77 crores as compared to INR86 crores in the same quarter of the previous financial year. The EBITDA for the segment stood at INR12 crores in Q2 FY ’25, the EBITDA margin have remained flat at 15.5%. In H1 FY ’25, the digital revenue stood at INR156 crores as compared to INR164 crore in the corresponding period. The EBITDA for the segment stood at INR24 crores in H1 FY ’25 as compared to INR22 crores in H1 FY ’24. The EBITDA margin witnessed an expansion of 15.3% in H1 FY ’25 from 13.6% in FY — H1 FY ’24.
The company continued to exhibit a healthy balance sheet with net cash and cash equivalents totaling to INR902 crores as on September 30, 2024. Our financial prudence in future — in further reflect in our strong return ratios with the annualized return on equity of 32% and return on capital employed of 27%.
With that, I will request the moderator to open the floor for questions. Thank you.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
[Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Dinesh from Finsight. Please go ahead.
Dinesh Kulkarni
Hello, sir. Can you hear me? Am I audible?
Amit Sudhakar
Yes, we can hear you.
Dinesh Kulkarni
Okay. First of all, very congratulations on a really good set of numbers, sir. I mean, obviously on the margins and the PAT front. My question, sir, so like we have seen the Visa & Consular business has shown — has a tremendous growth in terms of applications and revenue and on all fronts. But the digital business is definitely is not on a year-on-year basis showing the numbers what we are looking at. So first of all, is there — what is the — what are the challenges here that we are facing? And second, are we want to split this business and completely use this cash, the proceeds of this business to — so in the visa business for further acquisitions? That’s my first question.
Amit Sudhakar
Nikhil, sir, you would like to take it or?
Nikhil Gupta
No, I don’t mind. Actually, I just wanted to respond by saying that all businesses have different risks and rewards as you know. So definitely the Visa & Consular business has much higher margins because the number of people kind of competing in that space are less and digital business is a little more competitive. There is no plan right now to be — to completely sell or separate the businesses. As you know, it’s a digital business is a subsidiary of the — and of BLS International and we want to find opportunities for growth there because we believe there are opportunities still there in that space.
Dinesh Kulkarni
Okay. So then what are the challenges you’re facing, sir, because we are not — I mean, definitely the numbers are not reflecting that, right? And what is the challenge you are facing?
Nikhil Gupta
Competition.
Dinesh Kulkarni
Okay.
Shikhar Aggarwal
I think also I can add one more point. Basically, last year, if you see one of our contracts got completed and in spite of that contract, not having the revenue from that contract, which was in the state of Punjab, we still have — the revenues have increased. So definitely, we have seen a growth, but one of the contracts got completed last year, that is the reason you see there is no major growth in terms of revenue, but because the overall revenue reduced from that contract.
Dinesh Kulkarni
Okay. Fair enough, sir. Yes.
Nikhil Gupta
And Dinesh, this IPO money, what we have raised is for the growth that’s what Shikhar has said in his speech also that we are doing so few acquisitions and the numbers will start showing from Q3 onwards. So you’ll see the growth coming in this business also.
Dinesh Kulkarni
That sounds great, sir. The last thing from my end, sir. We have made quite a few acquisitions in the last few months, right, and including the iDATA. So how do we see the things are panning out there? And what kind of numbers we should expect when we end this financial year and maybe the next financial once we have all the consolidated number? Yeah.
Nikhil Gupta
See the consolidation in this quarter, if you see, the iDATA numbers have been added in the current quarter and therefore, the growth trajectory has been about 22% in the revenue, which we have been doing for the last two quarters and we think it will continue with our existing business growing as well as with the acquisitions which are coming in.
Dinesh Kulkarni
Okay. So the kind of numbers we see in the next year I’m asking, let’s say, what’s the target and guidance for the next year? And yeah, the next financial year.
Shikhar Aggarwal
Correct. We want to maintain the numbers that we’ve achieved in the first few quarters.
Nikhil Gupta
Momentum will continue.
Shikhar Aggarwal
Yeah.
Dinesh Kulkarni
Okay. And the same margins, right, we can expect the margins to maybe expand further.
Nikhil Gupta
Yeah.
Dinesh Kulkarni
Okay, sir. Thank you very much.
Shikhar Aggarwal
Right now our objective is to maintain the same margins.
Dinesh Kulkarni
Okay. All the rest and I’ll get back to the queue for more questions. Thanks very much.
Nikhil Gupta
Thank you, Dinesh.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Nihal Shah from Prudent Corporate Advisory. Please go ahead.
Nihal Shah
Hello. Thank you for the opportunity and congratulations for the great set of numbers. So if I reduce the applications that we had from iDATA in this quarter, so we are looking at around 18% volume growth in the applications that we have processed. So what was that number for iDATA and how has iDATA been growing since the last few years, if you can share some light on it and their margins as well?
Nikhil Gupta
So iDATA is having revenue around INR200 crores INR250 crores annually, which is going to be per now part of our numbers, that growth what we anticipate will be around 10% to 15% over that going forward in iDATA business or how we look at it. What was your second question?
Nihal Shah
So the margins have been around 45%, 50% there since the last couple of years. And for this quarter, if you can give specific margins for iDATA?
Nikhil Gupta
So as we said, they did — in this quarter they did about INR60 crores and INR23 crore was EBITDA, about 40%.
Nihal Shah
Okay. And so, are we using their facilities to manage our contracts as well in their existing facilities so that synergies have been set already or that will happen in the coming quarters?
Nikhil Gupta
That will happen over the next couple of quarters.
Nihal Shah
Okay, okay. So that could improve our margins even more from this level of 33-odd percent, right?
Nikhil Gupta
That’s right. Once those synergies will come in play, we’ll see a improvement there.
Nihal Shah
Okay, okay. Thank you. Thank you very much, sir.
Nikhil Gupta
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Vishal Singh from Finvestors [Phonetic]. Please go ahead.
Vishal Singh
Am I audible, sir?
Shikhar Aggarwal
Yeah. We can hear you.
Vishal Singh
Thank you sir for the opportunity to speak. Good afternoon and congratulations on posting excellent results, sir. My question, although, two questions have been answered, my question will be like what impact of current geopolitical environment or scenarios which are going on will have on our business?
Nikhil Gupta
Shikhar you would like to take it?
Shikhar Aggarwal
Yeah. So see, as you know, we have work — our company is currently present in 70 plus countries. We work with multiple governments and geopolitical scenarios year-on-year keep on happening in different pockets of the world, but it does not impact us on an annual basis. Definitely, after COVID, certain countries, for example, Russia, outbound traffic still has not come up. So once probably the situation stabilize, we will definitely see numbers coming back from there. But other than that across the world, we have seen increase in volume from 2019.
Vishal Singh
Doest that means there’ll be highly an impact. Sir, could be — could you just possibly guide us for like the guidance like 25% to 30% of the unconservative side, what we are doing currently for this fiscal year?
Shikhar Aggarwal
If you see our last five years, our CAGR growth has been 17% — more than 70% in terms of PAT. Even this first two quarters, the number that we have achieved compared to last year has been phenomenally higher. So definitely, as we grow more as a company, as we are bidding for multiple new contracts, billions of dollars of contracts that we’ve been bidding for. We have won a few contracts in the last couple of months, we’ve deployed them, acquired a few companies. So definitely growth can come from multiple areas, existing business growth, new contracts, acquisition synergies. We are also shifting from some of the operations in certain countries, we are taking over fully where we had some local partners. So you will see definitely that we want to maintain whatever we have achieved first.
Vishal Singh
So as per your presentation, as you said, like you have moved and I think you don’t have any peer in our country as we can see that you have posted that it will be like 20% of CHR growth in air traffic and passengers will be traveling. So what is your vision on growth trajectory for a longer period like for ’27 or three to five years like?
Shikhar Aggarwal
Whatever we’ve achieved in the past few years, we want to maintain that. And whatever obviously industry growth trajectory of 15%, 20%, that is a bare minimum I feel that we can achieve. But definitely as in the past also, we want to overachieve then give a high guidance. So definitely, we will be maintaining that.
Vishal Singh
Thank you, sir. And all the best to BLS family for the upcoming year.
Shikhar Aggarwal
Thank you.
Operator
[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Shrija Pathak from JK Capital. Please go ahead.
Shrija Pathak
Hi, hello, can you hear me?
Shikhar Aggarwal
Yes, we can hear you.
Shrija Pathak
Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you for giving me the opportunity. So my first question is actually about revenue per visit or passport. In the past, it used to be higher than the one that we’re seeing right now. Is it because it was actually above 3,000 in the 2015, 2016 year, have you guys changed the way you calculate it now or why is the reason — what’s the reason for its decrease?
Amit Sudhakar
So frankly, I don’t have numbers of ’15-’16, but for the last couple of years, if you see, especially post-COVID, the trend has been going up only on a quarter-to-quarter basis. So we’ll — I’ll have to check ’15-’16 and then come back to you on that number.
Shrija Pathak
Okay. Great. My second question is on the line of EBITDA margin for the Visa & Consular business. I see that over the past couple of years, your operational expenses as a percentage of revenue has been going down. Is it because of the new model that you shifted to the more self-owned model? Is that the major reason for that? And will we see that kind of continue? I understand that a lot of the expansion came because of some of the acquisitions, but will we see this trend as we go forward this factor contributing significantly to your EBITDA margins increasing?
Amit Sudhakar
So there was a couple of reason for the EBITDA margin. One, as you said, that has been one of the major reasons why we changed our model from partnership to our own. The second has been the new contracts have been won at a higher application prices as well as with this acquisition where we had just done the iDATA acquisition, the EBITDA margins were — they were running at a 40% to 45% EBITDA margin. So there’s all factors have improved our EBITDA margin over the last couple of quarters, if you see.
Shrija Pathak
Okay. Great. Sir, my last question and it’s about the bid that are happening right now on the market. How many have you guys applied for? What’s the progress? And yeah, just a little bit of just that.
Shikhar Aggarwal
We don’t — yeah. Amit, sorry, are you answering?
Amit Sudhakar
No, no, I couldn’t hear it. So if you can please go ahead.
Shikhar Aggarwal
Yeah. Yeah. So basically, if you see in the last couple of years, every couple of years bids keep on coming globally and we have also won a lot of new contracts in the last one year. And next few years also, there are multiple contracts going on in Europe, in North America and different multiple countries that we are bidding for and we are in different stages of bidding. And once the result is out, we definitely as per the guidelines we announced it with the market. But definitely, there is a big, big scope in terms of growth. We’ve been winning new contracts, existing governments are coming out with rebids where competitors are incumbent, and also newer governments which are outsourcing for the first time. So there is a growth opportunity in both the trajectories.
Shrija Pathak
Okay, thank you so much.
Shikhar Aggarwal
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Hena Vora from DAM Capital. Please go ahead.
Hena Vora
Hello. Hi, thank you for the opportunity. Just one question from my end. So we have attributed the fact that moving to a self model has helped us in the margins. But I just wanted to understand, is this also ROCE accretive? If you could just tell me what ROCE we will be making under the partnership model and under the self driven model?
Shikhar Aggarwal
Sorry. Sorry, what was the last point?
Hena Vora
I was just asking what sort of ROCE do we make under the partnership model and what will be making under the self run model.
Shikhar Aggarwal
Amit, can you — if you understand, can you answer that please? I didn’t understand it properly.
Amit Sudhakar
See, our ROCE normally is not very — it’s very high because in both the cases, we don’t invest in the property, but we do the infrastructure only. Whereas in the case of partnership model, we don’t do that also. The whole infrastructure and the logistics is being handled by the partner. So obviously, the margins are much more when you do it on your own versus getting — doing through the partner.
Hena Vora
Okay. Just a ballpark number what we have, are the ROCE similar in both the cases?
Amit Sudhakar
It will depend from country to country and the infrastructure which we need to invest there.
Hena Vora
Okay. So it is fair to assume that the partnership model is better in terms of ROCE or that would not be the case?
Amit Sudhakar
So I think our own will be a much…
Hena Vora
Much, okay ROCE accretive.
Amit Sudhakar
As we do on our own.
Hena Vora
Sure. Okay, thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Pratik from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Pratik Bharne
Hi, sir. Congratulations on a good set of numbers. My question was, if we look at the revenue for the existing business, removing the iDATA numbers, I mean, Q-on-Q the revenue is slightly lower. So is there a particular reason for that?
Amit Sudhakar
So one has been that digital business revenue was lower. And the second, our business is quite seasonal in the sense that Q4 and Q1 are the higher revenues compared to Q2 and Q3. So there is a seasonality in the business also.
Pratik Bharne
Sure, sir. And my second question was iDATA EBITDA that got accrued this quarter was around INR23 crores. Is that what…
Amit Sudhakar
Yeah, that’s right. On a INR60 crores of revenue.
Pratik Bharne
Okay. And this wasn’t — when I went through presentation this wasn’t for the entire three months, it’s from July 9 onwards that you are accreting?
Amit Sudhakar
Exactly, exactly. It is from 9 July onwards.
Pratik Bharne
Sure. And is there some seasonality in that business as well because CY ’23, I think the total EBITDA for that business was around INR140 odd crores, right?
Amit Sudhakar
Yeah, there is a seasonality in their business also, because as you know, during winter the travel to Europe is much less compared to during the summer. So now this is a lean season which will start when December practically it comes to the lowest level of volumes and then it starts picking up from January, Feb onwards.
Pratik Bharne
Sure. Thank you, sir, for the answers.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Yash from Stallion Asset. Please go ahead.
Yash Gandhi
Hi, thank you for the opportunity. So I think in the first half, we’ve done 24% revenue growth and given the strong growth in your visa applications as well, it’s up 45% Y-on-Y. In second half, do you think we can grow more than 25% and even in FY ’26, do you think we can maintain this 25% run rate in revenues?
Amit Sudhakar
See, revenue will go — can go much higher because of the new acquisitions which are in the pipeline and some got crystallized. So it will have an impact in the Q3 as well as in Q4. So there — we are anticipating the number — revenues to be higher.
Yash Gandhi
Okay. Okay. Got it. And I think you had acquired this one business I think it’s called Aadifidelis. Sorry, I’m not getting the right on the loan processing business in the first quarter. I just wanted to see how large can this business be? I think this business is a part of your digital business of loan processing and it had about INR22 crores of EBITDA for FY ’24. And I’m just trying to understand how you can scale this business up and what would the numbers look like in FY ’25 and ’26.
Amit Sudhakar
So this business will get — we are in the last stage of closing the transaction, hopefully it will get closed this month. Once it happens, they did last year audited numbers were about INR600 crores of our revenue on which they had a INR22 crores of EBITDA. We see a big synergy with this business because we ourselves have more than 30,000 CSPs as well as touch points of over 1 lakh. And if we can work out a synergy between those touch points and the loan distribution company’s expertise, we can scale up this business further. And hopefully, we’ll see to work that out over the next couple of quarters and see how we can scale up this business.
Yash Gandhi
Right. And sir, any sort of new acquisitions similar to iDATA because obviously, I think this question is asked that you’ve got a lot of cash and balance sheet. So if you — I mean, if we don’t — haven’t got any acquisitions similar to, then any possible dividend to the shareholders.
Amit Sudhakar
So we just closed another one, which is Citizenship Invest about $31 million acquisition which got finalised in the first week of October and that is in Dubai. They do citizen — they provide residency and citizenship to more than 20 countries. So that is where we have invested. Aadifidelis will be the next investment, which will happen hopefully in this month. So we have a decent, I would say, acquisition pipeline and as and when they get crystallized, we’ll be utilizing our funds.
Shikhar Aggarwal
But Amit, we have also been paying dividend please consistently.
Operator
Sorry to interrupt Mr. Yash.
Yash Gandhi
Sorry, I didn’t — I think the answer was just being completed.
Operator
Okay.
Shikhar Aggarwal
Yeah, I just to wanted to also specify about the dividend policy that we’ve been maintaining.
Amit Sudhakar
Yeah. So dividend we have been paying. So surplus, we are using it for dividend as well as for the new the acquisitions.
Yash Gandhi
Okay. And sir, just last question. Sorry, just take one off.
Operator
[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Anuj Jain from Globe Capital. Please go ahead.
Anuj Jain
Good evening, everyone, and congratulations on the wonderful set of numbers. Just want to understand one thing. This quarter, we have seen significant improvement in the EBITDA margins, right? So I mean, this is a combination of two things. One is the iDATA, as well as the second one, is where you are moving from partner model to self-managed model. So can you please help me in understanding like what kind of further improvement we can see and how this partner model and self-managing model will help us in increasing the margins going forward?
Shikhar Aggarwal
First of all, just shifting from partner to self-model is not the answer. Multiple factors. We have increase in service fees also in many of the tenders. Even in value-added services fees have been increased. The conversions have also improved. So multiple factors have led to increases in EBITDA margins. And definitely moving from partner run model wherein we have to share some of the revenue and profitability with them. Now 100% of this should be captured by us will definitely have — led to an increase in EBITDA margin.
And going forward, our objective is to maintain this EBITDA margins first. As you know, we were at 21% last year where we grew to 27% in the first quarter. Now we have grown to 33%. So our objective is to maintain the numbers that we’ve achieved. I think it’s a high number that we have done now 33%. So first objective is just to maintain it. And if we see more synergies that can improve the EBITDA margins, then definitely we will add on. But main objective is to deliver consistent EBITDA margins at this level.
Anuj Jain
Okay, that’s it from my side. Thank you. Thank you. All the best.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ravi Kumar Naredi from Naredi Investments. Please go ahead.
Ravi Kumar Naredi
Thank you very much. Mr. Nikhilji, Shikharji and Karanji, you give — I give big thanks for extraordinary result along with big margin expansion. It is the result of our devoting employees indeed. Sir, whatever iDATA and other subsidiaries we bought, we took INR255 crores on borrowing in spite we have cash balance of INR1,000 crore. Any specific reason to borrow?
Amit Sudhakar
So because of the better ROI calculation on the acquisition. So the borrowing has been done in Turkey for the acquisition. So it’s a tax-efficient structure. The main reason was that we did the acquisition on a small amount of borrowing.
Ravi Kumar Naredi
Okay. Okay, understand. Any new visa application mandate if we won in this quarter can — will you describe it?
Shikhar Aggarwal
See, we are constantly bidding for multiple contracts. In this quarter, we have opened offices in multiple geographies — new geographies like Columbia, Peru. We’ve also rolled out certain contracts that we won again, for example, in the Poland, in Philippines, we recently started Portugal and Morocco. I think it was in the quarter before or this quarter, I don’t know. So we constantly we are rolling out newer contracts in new geographies and also opening new offices for our existing contracts. In this quarter also, we have done the same.
Ravi Kumar Naredi
Okay. And this investor presentation, you mentioned ongoing transition from partner-run model to self managed model. What is the difference?
Shikhar Aggarwal
Difference is that in certain countries that we feel that we have the opportunity to transition. So we are evaluating that in certain geographies of the world. So that is what it means.
Ravi Kumar Naredi
Okay, thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ankush Agarwal from Surge Capital. Please go ahead.
Ankush Agarwal
Yeah, hi, thank you for taking my question. Firstly, sir, within our visa business, as far as we move the high data revenue number of INR60 crores, sequentially our revenue numbers are lower within the visa business despite the fact that the number of applications processed is similar, like in our visa business, the EBITDA margins are primarily higher because EBITDA is similar, while the margins are lower sequentially — revenues are lower sequentially. So can you explain why this has happened? Why the revenues are low sequentially within visa business excluding iDATA?
Amit Sudhakar
So see this has been mainly account of — counselor numbers being much higher, where the application revenue per application is much lower. So those have gone up where passport renewals and the others were much higher compared to the Q1. So those numbers have come in, therefore the mix has been little different. That’s why.
Ankush Agarwal
Okay. Okay. It doesn’t have any part of accounting, because I think in FY ’24, we did this accounting change wherein the embassy piece which was a pass-through was directly being passed and was not being booked. Has that also impacted a bit in this quarter or that has been done in FY ’24 only?
Amit Sudhakar
No, so nothing in this quarter as a separate of that.
Ankush Agarwal
Okay. The second question is around iDATA. So iDATA margins are about 37% this quarter and the revenue run rate of INR60 crores is similar to the numbers that we shared at the time of acquisition for 2023. So wanted to understand why the revenue has not grown plus why the margins are lower than say 55%, 58% that the iDATA did in 2023 to now 37% in this quarter?
Amit Sudhakar
Nikhil sir, you take it or?
Nikhil Gupta
Yeah, yeah, I can take that. Two things have happened. One is that there have been some changes in certain countries operating in that — where we are operating where the volumes of transactions have come down because of things like evisa, we’ve compensated some of that with higher volumes and new additional volumes in other countries. And you’ll keep seeing this improvement as we decided that we will do synergies with BLS, nine centers were to be done in nine months, we’ve already completed four of them and therefore you’ll start seeing improvements coming in, in the quarters ahead.
Ankush Agarwal
Okay. But do we expect that we will be able to achieve like similar margins that were there pre-acquisition like 55% now?
Nikhil Gupta
So we expect to improve the margins, as I said and achieve the kind of margins that we were doing earlier.
Ankush Agarwal
Okay, perfect. The last question is, would it be possible for you to share how much of our visa business is dependent upon the Spain contract? I know it’s a large number, but a rough ballpark of how much of our revenues and profitability would depend on Spain contract within visa business.
Amit Sudhakar
Spain will be around say 25% to 30%.
Ankush Agarwal
Just 25% to 30% of overall revenue you’re saying.
Amit Sudhakar
That’s right.
Ankush Agarwal
But the applications process would be much higher I believe because of the data that we have shared earlier.
Amit Sudhakar
No, the application ratio will be same, similar.
Ankush Agarwal
Okay, got it. I’ll get back in the queue for further. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ishika Bajaj from Helios Capital Asset Management. Please go ahead.
Ishika Bajaj
Hi, am I audible?
Shikhar Aggarwal
Yes, we can hear you.
Ishika Bajaj
So certain bookkeeping questions, so in — for cost of service in Q2 FY ’25 has gone down by around INR63 crores. So is there a particular reason for this or is it just because of the module — shifting the module from partnership to self?
Amit Sudhakar
Yeah, that’s been the major reason, Ishika, that what the commission we were paying to the partner was booked under cost of service directly, which has now not there and that — has expenses are being booked under employee cost and the administrative costs.
Ishika Bajaj
Okay. And for other expenses, that’s also gone up by INR50 crores. What is the reason for that?
Amit Sudhakar
Exactly the same reason that it has moved out of the cost of sales and the expenses have been under other expenses and the employee cost because we have done the — now all those offices are being maintained by us.
Ishika Bajaj
Yeah. Understood. Thank you. And one more thing, when this data acquisition was announced, it was said that initially you’re going to pay EUR50 million and then go on a milestone-based payment structure. So is that still something that you’re doing or just paid out the entire INR720 crores?
Amit Sudhakar
So we have paid all entire amount, except a small, I think INR4 million, which is to be paid over the next one year or so.
Ishika Bajaj
Okay, okay. Thank you so much.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rucheeta Kadge from I-WEALTH. Please go ahead.
Rucheeta Kadge
Hello, sir. Good afternoon and thank you for taking my question. So my question was on the partnership model. So have we converted all our centers from partnership into self-made or there are still a few models which are remaining?
Amit Sudhakar
So yeah, most of them has… yeah, Shikhar.
Shikhar Aggarwal
Yeah, there are still a few pending, but depending on the operational requirement we are analyzing, whether it is feasible enough to convert or not, but most of them have been converted.
Rucheeta Kadge
Okay. So we expect the margin to further improve from here like the 34%, 35% PBT margin which we’ve made during this quarter, we see a further improvement once we convert those models as well.
Shikhar Aggarwal
As we said, like we have really grown from 21% margin level to 27% and now 33%. So on an increased revenue that we expect in the coming quarters and years, consolidation with all the companies, our main objective is first to maintain the margins that we’ve achieved. So as of now, our objective is just to maintain the margins that we have achieved. And if we grow further, that will be a bonus. But our objective right now on a consolidation that we plan to do in the next few years is to maintain the margins.
Rucheeta Kadge
And just Aadifidelis acquisition, when do we see these numbers coming in our books?
Amit Sudhakar
If we are planning to see that it get closed in the coming months and hopefully, we will see the numbers reflecting in our Q3 numbers.
Rucheeta Kadge
And what is the kind of growth that we see in this business?
Amit Sudhakar
I think once we get into the business, we will have a much better idea how we can grow it further.
Rucheeta Kadge
Understood, sir. Thank you so much.
Amit Sudhakar
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rahul Jain from Nuvama Wealth. Please go ahead. Rahul, your line has been unmuted. Please go ahead with your question. As there is no response from the current participant, we’ll move on to the next question. The next question is from the line of Chandan Mishra from Finvester [Phonetic]. Please go ahead.
Chandan Mishra
Good evening, sir. Am I audible?
Amit Sudhakar
Yes, we can hear you.
Chandan Mishra
So thank you for the opportunity. First of all, congratulation on posting good set of numbers. My first question is, if you please quantify the organic business growth in the current and coming years leaving acquisitions aside?
Amit Sudhakar
We couldn’t get your question. Come again.
Chandan Mishra
Sir, please quantify the organic business growth in the current and coming year…
Shikhar Aggarwal
18% is what we have grown organically in the coming quarter.
Chandan Mishra
This is, sir, leaving the acquisitions aside.
Shikhar Aggarwal
Correct, in terms of volume of applications.
Chandan Mishra
And sir, my next question is, if whatever — what are the acquisitions plan in near future?
Shikhar Aggarwal
Right now our aim is to consolidate the acquisitions that we have done and streamline the operations. And then going forward, as you know, we are constantly looking for growth opportunities both organically and organically. So if good opportunity arises, then we can definitely look at further acquisitions.
Chandan Mishra
One last question, sir. As it is being asked, but my question is just follow-up to digital business, as we have seen some slight dip in digital business year-on-year, do we expect some improvement in upcoming quarter and year-end?
Shikhar Aggarwal
Definitely, as we said that digital business, we have actually internally seen a growth only because one of the major contract — one of the contracts that we are running was completed last year. So that is why the revenue was not taken from that contract. In spite of that digital business have grown. So we do expect growth coming in digital business in the coming quarters and years.
Chandan Mishra
That’s all from my side, sir. Thank you, sir, and congratulations to BLS family for future growth.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Balu from Parami Financial Services. Please go ahead.
Balu Lamkhade
Hello. Yeah, congratulations on the good set of numbers. I have one question. I think in the month of August, we had announced for the QIP. So wanted to — your views on those. Where are we in terms of our QIP?
Shikhar Aggarwal
I think we had just announced enabling resolution as a company that what our plan was that every year we do enable resolution depending on the requirement, we will announce a QIP. So right now, there is no requirement, but that was just enabling resolution. As and when there is a requirement or where we have a big acquisition opportunity or requirement of funds, we will be announcing that.
Balu Lamkhade
Okay, thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Dinesh from Finsight. Please go ahead. Mr. Dinesh, your line has been unmuted. Please go ahead with your question.
Dinesh Kulkarni
Am I audible now? Hello?
Operator
Yes, sir, you are.
Dinesh Kulkarni
Okay. Sir, my question is — I think most of my questions have been already answered, but can you just tell us like the cash, which is approximately INR900 crores, right, all inclusive. Where is this cash, sir? Is it in with India — in India or is it in our foreign operation?
Amit Sudhakar
So it basically is all over the world, but major portion is in India and the second highest number — amount is there in Dubai, so because they’ll be reconsolidated. So most of it is in India.
Dinesh Kulkarni
Okay, India. And sir, sir, like say, as you mentioned, we have already done few acquisitions and a few are maybe on the pipeline, I’m assuming that. So the cash which we have is after paying all the current acquisitions which we have already done, right? Or is there any — are we expecting any drawdowns from this cash for any of the pending acquisitions?
Amit Sudhakar
No, we would be using this for the pending acquisitions.
Dinesh Kulkarni
Okay. And what — how much is that amount? I mean, what is the amount we’re expecting that?
Amit Sudhakar
See, we are actually if you see our results, we are generating about INR500 crores to INR600 crores a year of cash in the company with the current run rate. And we have used this money for INR31 million we have paid for the Citizen Invest, which we announced in the first week of October. And now we are going to even pay for the Aadifidelis in the next — in a month’s time. So those are the ones which are very much there and others, which are in the pipeline, once they get crystallized, we will know how much we need to pay there.
Dinesh Kulkarni
Okay. So there is a certain pending amount is still we are expecting, right?
Amit Sudhakar
That’s right. That’s right. And we are generating also. So it’s both.
Dinesh Kulkarni
Okay. Okay. That’s great, sir. Thank you, sir. I think I’m done here. Thank you very much and all the best.
Amit Sudhakar
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Yash from Stallion Asset. Please go ahead.
Yash Gandhi
Hi, thanks again for the opportunity. Sir, I think last time you had mentioned that you have got $1.5 billion to $2 billion of opportunity and I wanted to understand how many tenders are now like going to be renewed? What is like a bidding pipeline for the next two years? Hello, am I audible?
Shikhar Aggarwal
Yeah, I’m saying out of those we already announced that we won Slovakia Global in the last one year, Hungary won multiple contracts, Italy government, Poland, Portugal. So we have won multiple contracts and also we are bidding for newer contracts and as and when we win more contracts, we’ll definitely announce.
Yash Gandhi
Okay. Okay. So, I mean, is it possible to quantify like what is on the pipeline?
Shikhar Aggarwal
Opportunity is much bigger. It’s definitely upwards of $1.1 billion, $1.5 billion. In Europe, there are multiple countries that are coming in for2020 cycle in North America also. And we are actively now as we grow as a company, as we mature as a company, even with this acquisition of iDATA, not only that we’ve added geographical presence, we’ve also added some good people who had good presence in different geographies that where we are not present and they have good relationships in those territories. So definitely, we see good opportunities coming in and we are hopeful that we win certain market-share as we are performing our existing contracts well, rewinning them as well and governments are taking notice and they have good reliance on us. So definitely, we see that government wants to change the market scenario globally and stop the overreliance on one monopoly player. So that is why we see growth coming in, in our company.
Yash Gandhi
Right. And sir, second question is that as you said that you have about INR500 crore to INR600 crores of cash generation, so after the acquisition as well, I mean, is just to the Board as a suggestion, would it be possible to open for a buyback?
Shikhar Aggarwal
I think we can consider it. We are looking at multiple options right now. Our main focus is to deploy the cash in terms of either acquisitions or dividend to the shareholders that we have been doing. We’re also investing in technology and also opening of newer centers, consolidating our operations. We’re also spending on business development and getting more quality people on board. Definitely, we have not explored that for sure, but we can discuss it in our Board meeting.
Amit Jeswani
Okay. Okay. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. Due to time constraint, that was the last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Shikhar Aggarwal
Thank you everyone for joining the Q1 — Q2 FY ’25 conference call of BLS International. We look forward to talking to you again next quarter.
Operator
[Operator Closing Remarks]